Normal Again
by Lia Star
Summary: What if it wasn't Buffy who got stabbed by the demon in Normal Again, but Xander. SpikeXander WilliamAlex
1. Chapter One

A/N: I watched Normal Again the other day and as I've had a liking for the pairing of Spike and Xander recently this came to my head and refused to go away, so I decided to write a short chapter and see how it went. This is completely un beta'ed so any mistakes are mine (surprise surprise) It's the first fic I've wrote in a while so it's probably really rubbish (speaking of, if anyone actually wants me to continue either of my old fics, just let me know) This may have a small amount of slash but not for a long time, and this is my first fic based on a relationship as well.

Anyway please please please review this if you like it and I'll write another chapter!!

Disclaimer: Joss and M.E.

Summary: What if it wasn't Buffy who got stabbed by the demon in Normal Again, but Xander. Spike/Xander William/Alex

Warning: Nothing as of yet, maybe in later chapters

Rating: PG-13

Spilers/Timing: Season 6, my spin on the episode Normal Again.

* * *

"Pet, pet can you hear me?" Xander looked around foggily and saw a pair of concerned blue eyes staring back at him. It was kind of nice to see soeone looking at him in a concerned way, especially after all the trouble with the demon - the demon, he had to tell Buffy! He struggled to stand up but found he was to weak, he looked at the blue eyes again before he made the connection.

Those blue eyes belonged to Spike, not exactly the person, or vampire, he wanted to be around, even if he was fangless.

"Spike, what are you doing here?" A flicker of emotion passed through the blonde's eyes, it looked almost like hurt, but on Spike? No way.

"Pet you're not there, you're home, with me" Xander gave him an annoyed look, whatever game the vampire was playing, he was not in the mood for it.

"Spike you don't live with me anymore, rember you got your crypt. Now help me up I need to go find Buffy"

"Look at me, look at me Alex"

"Alex? What the hell are you going on about Spike? My name's Xander, no one calls me Alex"

"Come on luv, try to remember, for me?" The door behind them swung open and a doctor walked into the room, it was only then that Xander took in his surroundings. He wasn't in his apartment like he had originally thought, but he was in a hospital room, in the corner on the floor, with a very concerned looking Spike crouched down in front of him. Xander looked up at the doctor.

"Where am I?"

"You're in hospital Alex, you haven't been very well for a while now. William here has been very worried about you. Now can you tell me, what do you remember?" What did he remember? Everything, of course he did, maybe he got hit on the head and they were checking for concussion, yeah that must be it.

"What do I remember? A demon, I have to go and tell Buffy, it was too strong she's going to need to-"

"No Alex, that's not real, none of it is. You need to try and stay focussed on what's real. Focus on William, can you do that for me?"

"William, what are you.... That's Spike"

"No luv, I'm Will remember? Please try and remember"

"Spike, I'm not stupid, this is one of your stupid games and when Buffy hears about this she is going to stake your ass so quick you won't-"

"Alex please, try and listen to what we are telling you. Sunnydale, the slayer, the vampires, they don't exist. You're in London, in England, and you've been in hospital for nearly 6 years now. You've had William here very worried, we weren't sure if you were going to wake up or not" Xander was beginning to get annoyed, everyone kept cutting him off when he tried to say something.

"Wake up? What do you mean? Oh I've got it, I'm asleep, this dream is just some freaky side effect from that demon that stabbed me, I'll be find when I wake up later"

"You are awake Alex, please listen to what the doctor's telling you"

The doctor looked at Xander before turning around to Spike.

"William, I think it may be best if you went home and had a rest, we'll contact you immidiately if there are any changes, but you can't expect him to accept all this straight away, it's been a long time since he has been this aware of his surroundings and he has been doing extremely well at the moment, he may need a bit of time for things to sink in though"

Spike reluctantly tore his gaze away from Xander, looked at the doctor,then looked at Xander again he bent his head down gave Xander a quick kiss on the cheek and stood up and walked out the door, leaving a very confused Xander staring after his retreating form with one hand on his cheek.


	2. Chapter Two

A/N: Well yay, I actually got some reviews, and they didn't tell me that I couldn't write and that I should throw this story in the bin, so that's a plus! Anyway on with the next chapter, I realise the story may take a while to set off but I've just got to get it started before jumping into something wacky like a story line :D

Oh and a question, I was just wondering how people wanted me to set this up, I was thinking of alternating each chapter between the Sunnydale universe and the normal again universe, but if anyone else has any other suggestions, of which universe or relationship (William/Alex or Spike/Xander) they would like to see be developed the most, I would be glad to hear them.

Sorry this is a short chapter, but I'm kinda busy with school and getting my outfit ready for halloween on Sunday (a friend's party) I promise the next chapter will be better and I'll see if I can get it out before I go back to school on Monday!

Disclaimer/Summary/Warning etc. : See previous chapter (I'll post again if ratings change)

Another thing, yes Spike and Buffy had a 'thing' but it's over now and neither of them want to get back together.

* * *

"Xander, Xander, XANDER!" Xander's eyes opened with a start as he felt a hand slap him across the face. Hard. His eyes locked with Buffy's sheepish looking ones, well that answered his question the whole thing with the demon and the hospital must have been some weird dream thing and that was why he was here lying on.... Buffy's bed?

"Why?... What?... Huh?" A place he had wanted to be for years and when he finally got here all he could do was stutter, typical, of course he had been over Buffy for ages, but still that wasn't the point.

"You got a little hurt on partol, a demon stabbed you with this thing that came out of its arm" Buffy was holding out her arm trying to show Xander what had happened but he was too lost in thought to notice Buffy's efforts at filling him in on what had just happened, it was still possible that everything had just been a dream, it just got a little mixed in with reality, that's all, still he had to be sure.

"Buffy, where's Spike?"

"Spike? Why, you two can't stand each other. He hasn't said anything to you has he?" Buffy's face suddenly grew very suspicious, she and Spike had agreed to keep their, whatever it was that they had had a secret, but Spike wasn't typically known for keeping his word.

"No, what would the bleached wonder have said?"

"Oh nothing, I just.. you know what Spike's like" Before Xander could query any further into Buffy's sudden change in behaviour a nervous face popped round the corner.

"Wills!"

"Hey Xander, how are you? I heard the pair of you talking when I came in. I've just been doing another search as to where the geeks could be hiding out since the last one was a no go but so far no luck" Willow put on a lopsided grin and threw a bar of chocolate at Xander. "I hear it's a miracle medicine, doctors all around the world are using it now"

Xander caught the bar and looked back at his oldest friend.

"Well who am I to argue with what the doctors are saying?" He greedily opened the bar and began chomping.

"Well if you're up to it you can come back out with us tonight, we're looking for the demon, but we're gonna bring Spike along this time, just incase things get out of hand again." She paused for a second looking thoughtful "And incase I need a human shield"

"Human?"

"Well human shaped... whatever"

"Yeah I'm fine, that chocolate cure has worked like a charm. Anything you need me to do until we go out in..." he looked at his watch "2 hours? How long was I out for?"

"Almost 20 hours, but the poison doesn't seem to have had any long lasting side effects, we tried to run a search for it but that came up a no go, we didn't get a good enough look at it"

"Anyway we'll let the patient rest in bed for a couple more hours before we go out" Xander started to argue but he saw the resolve face planted firmly on Willow's features and let it drop. He watched the girls head out and close the door behind them and his mind wandered back to Spike, or William as he had called himself, and the hospital, it wasn't exactly the kind of thing he usually dreamed about, his dreams normally consisted of scantily clad girls having pillow fights and letting him join in, not Spike kissing him.

He decided to switch off and try and get a couple of hours sleep before he had to face Spike again.


	3. Chapter Three

A/N:Well here it is, my next chapter, I hope you like it. I realise I'm switching back and forwards a bit, but hopefully when my brain starts functioning a bit better I can have a go at actually writing longer chapters :D

If there's anything you want to see in this story then PLEASE let me know and I'll try my hardest to give you what you want!

Oh and the next chapter, is going to be a trip back to the past, with William and Alex before he got ill (or supposedly ill, I haven't made my mind up on that yet)

Disclaimer etc. - See chapter 1

rating - pg-13

I'm not really sure with any ratings so if you think I'm doing it wrong let me know. But I think this story seems like a 12A to me (Brittish system) but correct me if you think otherwise.

Oh, I mention primary school once, no idea what it is called in America, but it's the thing after nursery.

* * *

Xander woke up surrounded by a large, warm body. He was sure it was a dream, Anya was still away on her girly holiday with 'Hally' so he resisted from opening his eyes just wanting the dream to go on a bit longer before he had to go on patrol and face Spike, especially after that dream he had had. The dream! Xander's eyes opened suddenly and they instantly met with a pair of ice blue ones.

"'Ello luv, had a nice sleep?" So he was back here. Again. It was too realistic to be a dream, yet obviously the situation didn't feel normal, it was like he was leading a double life, and some part of his brain, a tiny tiny part right at the back buried underneath all of his thoughts and expressions kind of liked it. He was here with someone who cared about more than lots of orgasms, someone that cared about him. Of course that was just the concussion talking and concussed or not he would never actually want a relationship with Spike, or William, whatever he was called.

"Yeah... ok" Xander had decided on his 'Game Plan' he was clearly in a mental hospital because they all thought that he was, well mental. So first things first he needed to get out, then after that he needed to look around this world or dimension or whatever it was and find the solution to stop him from visiting it in his sleep, or whenever it was. But to do that, it meant they would all have to think he was sane, which he was, most of the time, and that meant he would have to go along with them, and it would probably take a while for them to believe him.

He would have mentioned all of this to Buffy and Willow before, but he didn't want them to think he was crazy, like the people in this world obviously did, and he definitely didn't want to have to mention the fact that he had dreamed about a version of Spike kissing him, so he was just going to have to play it by ear and hope he could sort it allout by himself, without anyone else's help. He could do things by himself, he had done before, like the last trig test they had taken before highschool ended, well blew up, it had taken his own initative to copy Larry who had been sat next to him, not that had done much good, Larry was almost as bad at Trig as he was.

"You ok pet? You seem to be away with the fairys?"

"What?"

"Lost in your own thoughts, mind wandering a bit"

"Oh right sure, I'm fine"

"He seems better today, less confused" Once again Xander had been to wrapped up in Spike, William, too notice the doctor's presence in the room. He had already decided, however that he didn't like the doctor, the stupid idiot seemed to think he was death or something, always talking about him as if he wasn't there.

"Alex? Do you know where you are?"

"I'm in... hospital" He had been tempted to say he had been stuck in the looney ward, but he thought better of it, probably wouldn't go down to well with Mr. lets-ignore-Xander.

"That's right, and do you know why you're here?" The doctor had bent down and his nose inches away from Xander's, talking slowly as if to a small child.

"Because I'm.." Mad? Unstable? Insane? "ill"

"That's right and we're here to make you better" The doctor continued in his slow, primary school voice, he was just about to say something else when his beeper went off. "Right well I'll have to leave it there for now, I'll try and pop back around later" The doctor turned around and left, closing the large white door behind him.

"I know you don't like him Alex, but he's a good doctor"

"What? No I never said that I think he's" an annoying patronising idiot who thinks he knows more than everyone else "quite nice"

"Oh come on pet, how long have we known each other? I can read you like a book, it's ok though, I don't like him any more than you do luv, and you'll be well soon enough so we can leave him and his hospital behind us" Xander nodded in agreement though he wasn't actually listening to much that had been said after the rhetorical 'How long have we known each other' question, his mind began to wander, how long had Alex and William known each other, what was their relationship? They must be pretty close if William didn't seem to thing holding him in his arms and cuddeling was anything out of the ordinary, and not to forget the kiss, lets not forget the kiss. He was hungry for information and he wanted to know everything about the him in this world.

"What's up? Something wrong?"

"No, I was just wondering... Could you tell me stuff, like the things I've... forgotten, about us?" He turned his head around to face William a hopeful look on his face and he saw William's eyes lighten up at his request.

"What kind of things pet?"

"Well just anything, what was it like? A normal day?" William looked thoughtful for a moment before pulling Xander a little closer and staring at the blank wall opposite them, and then opening his mouth and starting his story.


	4. Chapter Four

A/N: Ok this was a chapter that I wanted to do from the beginning, baisically it's set in the Alex and William world and it's before he got ill. Please let me know what you think of it, and if you like it I'll do a few more chapters like this :D

Please let me know if you want me to write about the boys going clubbing, Xander in the mental hospital or Sunnydale next chapter. If Sunnydale isn't chosen I will definiteley do that the chapter after!

Disclaimer etc. - See chapter 1

rating - pg-15 Very mild slash, just making out on the bed (fully clothed) nothing that would offend anyone, besides everyone knew this story would (hopefully) have a m/m pairing

Yes, I am birttish, I say trousers, not pants. Deal with it :D

(A BIG hug to everyone who reviewed my latest chapter on part of the family, so glad you liked it, I was way unsure about writing that chapter)

BETA - Now just a quick wondering if anyone would be interested in beta-ing or know where I may be able to find one as I've been noticing quite a few mistakes in my work recently and if anyone would be able to help out on any of my work then I would be extremeley grateful! (If your interested/have any information my e-mail is )

* * *

"No way"

"Aww come on, you know you want to"

"No I don't"

"Yes you do!"

"No, I don't"

"Not even for me?" William began to pout and Alex began to give in, the pout was a weakness that Will was brilliant at exploiting.

"Why is this so important to you though?" Alex looked back at the leather trousers his boyfriend was currently holding and considered them once more, he wanted Will to be happy, but he knew that happiness would come with a price, most likely any tiny bit of dignity he had left.

"Look pet, you want to go to the club, I want to go to the club, you have to have club clothes or else we won't get in. Besides I'm wearing some as well aren't I?"

"Yes, but they look good on you"

"And how do you know they won't look any good on you?"

"I just know"

"Tell you what kitten, you put them on here I'll tell you if you look bad in them. If you look awful we'll find something else for you to wear?"

"But what if I look crap and you decide that you still want me to wear them?"

"Oh come on, you know me, I'm the first person to tell you if you look like a prat"

Alex gave Will a glare that told him in no uncertain terms that he was doing this under sufferance, and was most definitley not happy about wearing them before grabbing the obscenley tight material and trying to stretch it on. After about 15 minutes of Will laughing his head off at Alex who had been sprawled across the floor, one leg in one leg out, he was finally dressed.

Will's breath caught in his throat the first time he properly looked at his lover in the tight black trousers and black shirt that was currently hanging off his shoulders unbuttoned leaving a very nice view of the well muscled chest. Alex reached up to start buttoning his shirt but a strong hand reached out and grabbed his hands pulling them away and placing them down at his sides.

William took a step closer bringing their bodies nearer to each oher, before he began to slowly button up the shirt, savouring every moment of it. When the shirt was finally buttoned up he stepped back to admire his work for a second, making sure they weren't done up wonkey before grabbing Alex and shoving him towards the bed.

He pressed his lover onto the bed before grabbing his head and pulling him in for a vicious kiss. The couple had two different modes with each other, there was the lovey-dovey cuddles and kisses and there was the pure raw need, there were no guesses on which one this was. Making his way down the bare neck layed out before him Will began to grind his hips against Alex's creating some friction. As he slowly licked his way back up to Alex's face he noticed the clock on the bedside table. Reluctantly he gave Alex one last lick before standing up.

Alex groaned at the loss of contact, that and the fact that he had been so close to getting out of going around in public wearing leather, though he wouldn't mind wearing them around the apartment, not if they had that affect on Will every time he wore them.

"Come on pet, it's time to rock and roll!" Alex grinned as Will began to jump up and down in his expression of a rock star, he had agreed a while back when he had been more than a little drunk at their local bar that he would try something different, and this apparantly is what Will meant when he said something different, a night club. He had tried to get into nightclubs before with friends but he had never managed to get in, the bouncers always claiming that it was a 'membership only' club, in otherwords he didn't look good enough to be allowed in through the doors.

If he really admitted it to himself it wasn't the idea of the club that made him reluctant to go, it was the idea that Will would be allowed in, but he wouldn't. He took a look at the most valued person in his entire life, he was comfortably wearing matching black leather trousers and a red silk shirt, and was just now reaching out for his duster, an object that he couldn't live without. A quick glance in the wardrobe mirror door gave Alex a pleasant surprise, he didn't look half as bad as he had originally thought, he almost looked kinda hot, not nearly as hot as Will but hot nonetheless.

Will placed his hand on his hip, leaving a space ion the inside of his arm for Alex to take hold of before they walked out the door together and towards the club.

* * *

Sorry about the short chapter, but as I've mentioned before English coursework isn't leaving me with much time to write, however I will make an improved effort on making all my chapters longer in the future, it's just that this was my first EVER atempt at writing any slash (even if it is only a kiss) before, infact I haven't written any het fic before either so this is VERY new territory for me!


	5. Chapter Five

A/N: Okay, a big sorry for not in well ages, I've had like writer's block or whatever I just haven't been focussed for writing, and you can probably tell that from this chapter, but hey, I tried. Hopefully I've made up for it by having a logner chapter this time round. Oh and just to let you know first time I wrote this chapter it was a club scene with Will and Alex that really, really didn't work out so I switched onto this instead.

Disclaimer etc. - See chapter 1

Rating - pg-15

Ooooh and on a very happy note I now have a beta! Maikafuiniel, so hopefully this chapter should be easier to read!

And another change to the general storyline, just for the sake of it Xander is staying at Buffy's as his and Anya's flat is being painted or something, use your imagination! Oh and Giles is around not in England.

* * *

"Oi, Whelp!"

Xander spun around just in time to see a large claw come flying into his face and knock him onto the ground. The evening had been a busy one to say the least and they had eventually split up into groups to cover more ground. Three guesses who he had ended up with.

Spike, who was currently on the back of the tall scaly demon, had yet to call him on his weird behaviour, but he knew it was only a matter of time; however idiotic and childish Spike acted most of the time, he was always very aware of what was going on around him.

Xander didn't bother getting back up. Spike was handling the demon fine at the moment, and even if there was trouble it was very unlikely that he would be able to help at all. In the end of all things, if the demon managed to take out a master vampire, what would he, the carpenter, be able to do about it?

From his place on the ground he compared Spike to William; he was still unsure about what was going on, the last he remembered was William telling him a story about Alex and Will, then waking up in Sunnydale feeling refreshed as if he had been asleep the whole time.

At first glance William and Spike looked identical, which did make sense he supposed, but the more you looked, the more they looked like complete opposites. When Will smiled he got these little crinkles in the corner of his eyes; when Spike smiled it was more of a smirk, and he got an evil glint in his eyes. When Will looked at him he seemed to look into every corner of Xander's soul, but when Spike looked at him he just raised an eyebrow, kind of like he was doing right now...

"See something you like, pet?" Spike held out a hand, which Xander ignored as he pushed himself up of the grass. Spike didn't seem offended in the least and instead put his hand to good use by taking a cigarette out of the crumpled pack he had in his pocket. "Well?"

Xander gave him a confused look before realising that Spike was actually waiting for an answer, not something that usually happened, and when the rare occasion happened and Xander did give him an answer it was normally cut of with one of Spike's infamous witty comebacks.

"Shut up Spike, we came here to patrol, not to have tea and cakes" Xander walked ahead of Spike through the park, forgetting about the demon body they had left on display, right by the children's soft play area.

"Oooh, what got your knickers in a twist? Was it that demon? Heard about that, got your ass kicked a bit didn't you? Made you feel like less of a man than you are, if that's actually possibly"

Xander span around as quickly as his body would let him and glared at Spike, what the hell did he know about anything?

"Shut up Spike, why don't you just shut the hell up?" And just as he had suspected an eyebrow was raised and a pair of cool blue eyes calmly evaluated him, annoying him even more that he was the only one that was angry here.

"You know mate, you really should work on your witty comebacks, they're lacking something. Like, maybe, wit?"

"Whatever Spike, come on lets go and find Buffy"

"Buffy? Why do we need to find that bint?" Spike hated being around Buffy even more than usual after his brief insane phase when he thought he loved Buffy, he knew now it was nothing like that, she was hot and ready, he was a vampire and he had certain needs that hadn't been taken care of since Harmony, not that _she _really counted. But the truth was he hadn't had a decent fuck for well over 100 years, before a certain vampire they all knew and hated had gone and eaten a gypsy.

Despite his reluctance he followed Xander towards the slayer's house, he was curious as to what was up with the boy. Ever since that knock on the head he had been watching Spike closely, seemingly looking for something that he obviously couldn't find because he kept looking again and again.

As Xander opened the door with a spare key Spike followed in, not greeted with any barrier since he had received yet another invite, after being uninvited from the house yet again. He never walked into the house very quickly any more though he had learnt his lesson before. It seemed that whatever mood Buffy had been in the night before affected whether or not he would face a barrier when he walked through the door.

The pair walked into the living room to find everyone else already there. Buffy glanced up when they walked in and her eyes briefly met with Spike's before darting to Xander's, however this small action didn't remain unnoticed by Xander.

"Find anything on patrol?"

"One big scaly demon, about this high," Xander held his hand up about a foot over his head before continuing, "It's currently in the middle of the park, we kind of forget to clear it up." He sent his best glare at Spike, who would have remembered it was meant to be cleared up but didn't bother to remind him.

"The middle of the park?" Willow gave him a look and he knew what was coming next.

"Uh huh."

"Oh Xander, how could you? That's the children's play area, what's going to happen if they find it now?"

"They'll get a bit of a shock, it was an ugly blighter, packed quite a punch as well." Just then Giles walked into the room, carrying yet another of his books.

"Do you know what demon it was Spike? Or can you give me a bit of a better description than being an 'ugly blighter'?"

"'Fraid not, it had scales but that's about all I got."

"Oh well. You might as well go home now, the sun will be coming up shortly, the rest of you might as well get some sleep; the demon's dead so we aren't in any immediate danger for the time being, I'll come around tomorrow and we can see if we can work out why there's been a sudden increase in demonic activity in Sunnydale."

Xander thankfully climbed the stairs as Giles and Spike left and he stripped off and sank into his comfy bed. It was only as he closed his eyes that he had realised he had actually been looking to go back to sleep all through patrol, and only a tiny part of him admitted that the reason he had been looking forward to going to sleep was the fact that he would most likely be seeing Will. His brain shut off before he could begin to ponder why that was a good thing.


	6. Chapter Six

A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long for me to post, but here it is (eventually) and I'll aim to have another one up by christmas. This chapter is unbeta-ed as for some reason I can't get into my e-mail on hotmail, but I can get into a different e-mail on hotmail, so I'm not sure what's up. Anyway, hope you enjoy.

Oh and if you want ignore any reviews you see written by Laura, she's a friend of mine from school and has started reading my fic recently and she can be 'slightly' mad sometimes.

* * *

"... could talk about it or maybe see some familiar faces, it could help. You don't want to overload him though"

Xander moaned at clutched his head as he sat up, it felt like he had the hangover of all hangovers, except without the fun drinking and being drunk bit that usually came before a hangover.

"Alex, you ok pet?" Will looked over at Xander and he couldn't help but give his concerned friend? Boyfriend? Hallucination? a lopsided grin.

"What happened? My head feels like it's going to explode" Relieved that Alex was acting like his old self, William allowed to tension to run out of his body, it had been a bad night for the pair of them.

"You had a bit of a bad night, had a nightmare about something. You were muttering your sleep, it was about Sunnydale, I'm not sure what though" Once more the hurt look passed over Will's eyes, he didn't like talking about Sunnydale, but he had to accept it, it was the only way that Alex would get better again, he had to talk about it and hopefully, if the doctor was right, it would lead on to a series of realizations for him about the real world.

"Oh..." Xander didn't know what to say to that, however quickly Will had his the hurt look it didn't mean that Xander hadn't seen it. He glanced around the room that he was getting to be very familiar with and noticed the doctor was there again, he never noticed him first time round, all the white he wore seemed to make him blend into the walls.

Seeing that Xander had spotted the doctor William decided to tell him what they had been talking about just as he had been waking up.

"Doctor Roberts was just saying that you can see other people now, you know not just the sametwo faces all the time. That is, if that's what you want"

"Other people? Like who? Would you still be here?" The rush of questions came tumbling out of Xander's mouth in a worried rush before he could stop them and he closed his eyes feeling his face starting to burn up in embarrasment at sounding so girly and needy.

He opened his eyes again when he felt a hand cup his face and move it so he was staring directly into Will's eyes. A small smile was playing at Will's lips as he watched Xander calm down. When he felt his boy relax enough he answered the questions.

"Yes, other people. I would most certainly still be here with you luv, I'm not going to leave you on your own. And like who? You can't think that I was the only person you ever knew before can you?"

Now that he said it Xander supposed that it did make sense, he would have met other people when he was going down to the shops, or his friends at work. Work, did he go to work? Did he have a job? Another rush of questions tormented his mind and he stored them away to ask Will about them later.

"So would you?"

"Would I what?"

"Like to meet someone else? It would only be one person, and we'd take it slow and if at any time you got too tired we could leave the rest for another day" Xander looked at Will and there was not a chance in hell that he was going to ruin the hopeful expression on his face.

"Ok..." Will moved to stand up and Xander whimpered at the loss of the hand running through his hair, earning him another concerned look from William.

"I have to go and phone him, but only if you're sure"

"I'm sure" Xander gave him what he thought was a reasuring smile and William turned and left behind the doctor, leaving ander alone with nothing but his thoughts for company.

He wanted to know who the stranger was going to be, then something hit him; it could be someone from Sunnydale. If there was one Sunnydaler in this world what was there stopping there from being another one?

His mind quickly ran through every possibility he could think of in Sunnydale. Will had said that he had to go and phone 'him', so that cut down a lot of the possibilities, who did that leave? Well at the moment in Sunnydale there was him, Spike, Giles, who else was there? Riley had gone a while ago and, well there was the nerds, but that didn't seem particuarly likely.

He took a moment to think about the lack of male company he kept, boyfriends of the various scoobies had come and gone, Angel, Oz, Riley but other than himself and Giles no one else had really stayed around.He looked up when William opened the door, there was someone with him but he couldn't quite see who it was.

"Alex? I've got an old friend here. Now remember what I said earlier, if at any time you feel too tired let me know and you can et some rest and we'll leave you to it, ok?"

Xander nodded blankly, he was too worried to think about anything else, who was going to step out from behind that door?

"Ok. Alex, this is Liam"

Xander's breath caught in his throat and only one whispered word came out of his mouth.

"Angel"


	7. Chapter Seven

A/N: Ooooh lookie, another chapter aren't we honoured : ) Anyway I promised myself I would make at least one more update before christmas and this story came out tops, so here it is. Anyway I felt like a bit of bonding time for the boys so that's coming up as soon as I can be bothered to write it. As usual, more reviews makes me update faster, and seeing as I only got 2 reviews for my last chapter I'm hoping people are still reading this and they can inform of that when they are taking 2 minutes to review, please?

Anyway, here we go, Chapter seven of Normal Again. (un-beta'ed because I'm having problems with my e-mail at the moment and can't access any of them, I'll let you know when I can work out what's wrong with them myself)

* * *

"ANGEL??" Xander shook his head furiously, "No, no way, no no and no!" He pleadingly looked into the eyes of Spike, hoping to gain some backup. 

"Whelp's got a point Slayer, Angel being here would only cause trouble"

"This coming from his biggest fan club?"

"Come on Buffy, we can cope without Angel, you can cope without Angel"

"I can cope without Angel, but this isn't about me, it's about you Xander, and if you're in trouble we need all the help we can get"

"Why, because I'm so helpless? Because I can't look after myself?"

"Xander, that's not what she meant and you know it" Willow finally intercepted, she had kept out of the argument so far, not wanting to have to take sides and choose one of her best friends but things were starting to spiral out of control and she wanted to stop everything before someone said something they may regret later on.

"Oh come on then, lets all tell Xander how useless he is shall we?" Xander was starting to get seriously angry, no one was seeing things from his point of view. He couldn't see Angel, it was bad enough with Spike being around all the time, if he had to see Angel as well then he was bound to let something slip at one time or the other and he couldn't deal with that right now, especially not after meeting Liam for the first time.

"That's not what we're trying to do at all Xander, I just want you to see the big picture here"

"Fine lecture me now, tell me how I'm being selfish, endangering other people because of my personal differences with Angel"

"You aren't endangering other people Xander, but you could be endangering yourself, look Cordelia said-"

"I don't care what Cordelia said so just leave it Buffy ok?" Xander span around and grabbed his coat off the rack before opening the door "I'm going to patrol"

"Xander you-" Buffy stopped herself just in time, she didn't think that Xander was in a mood to appreciate her pointing out that he never chose to patrol, and that he really shouldn't. "Take Spike with you at least"

With a mumbled "Whatever" Xander was out of the door, closely followed by the peroxide blonde vampire.

"So, what's all this with you and the Slayer? Had a little bust up have we?"

"No"

"Not what it seemed like to me. So why are you so against Peaches coming to stay anyway, especially if it's for your health"

"Everyone knows I hate Deadboy, of course I don't want him to come over. And besides, that vision didn't say I was in danger. Cordy just had a vision and I was in it, she can't even remember anything else so I don't see any reason to get worried"

Spike gave the brunette an evaluating look as he turned away and began to look at anything but Spike's eyes. Spike could tell that there was something more to the 'I hate Deadboy' theory, there was something else causing Xander to want to stay away from Angel, and he was betting his unlife that it was conencted to whatever had been causing the young slayerette to act strangley the past week or so.

"Stop looking at me like that Fangless"

"Looking at you like what?"

"Like that" Xander shot Spike an irritated look and was briefly surprised at the look of concern he saw in the blonde's eyes, it reminded him too much of William so he quickly looked away and concentrated intently on the tree in front of him.

"Look mate, I'm not normally one to try and give advice, especially not to the likes of you, but somethings bothering you and quite frankly it's pissing me off not knowing what it is. So either open your mouth and tell someone about it, cry on your little girly friend's shoulder or whatever, or sort out the problem by yourself. But whatever happens you need to do something before it gets out of hand"

"What do you care?"

"I don't, but I've been through it all myself. I know what it feels like to lose someone you love" Xander gave Spike a look as if he'd grown two heads before he realised he thought that he was cut up about Anya, well what duid he know? All of his problems had started after that anyway. And since when had blondie cared about his problems?

"It's not about that"

"Well it's gotta be about a woman, to get you that pissed at your mates"

"It isn't about a woman. Believe me, it's not about a woman"

"Then a guy, whatever I really don't care, but you need to get it sorted out"

"Look Will, I appreciate that you're trying to help, or maybe you aren't I don't actually know what the hell you are doing, trying to do, or whatever but I don't need advice from you or anybody else my problems are my own and I can sort them out my own way, ok, and what are you looking at?" Spike was giving him the strangest of looks and it was starting to annoy him.

"What did you just call me?"

"What do you mean? You take 'til now to realise that all these times I've been calling you Fangless and Willy Wannabite that I've been insulting you?"

"You weren't insulting me, what did you just call me?"

Suddenly Xander froze, he'd called Spike Will, a stupid mistake, stupid, stupid, stupid.

"Look Spike, we're meant to be patrolling, but there obviously aren't any vampires out tonight so we might as well go home"

Xander was stopped from making a hasty retreat by a firm grip on his upper arm, he slowly lifted his head and looked into Spike's eyes and realised that he wasn't going to be able to talk himself out of this situation, unless said talking included an explanation in full. Spike began to pull Xander gently and he wasn't given any resistance, Xander had realised that he was going to have to explain and he had accepted the fact.

"Where are we going?"

"My crypt, and you and me are going to have a nice little chat"

Spike led the young boy off, further into the cemetary and he was going to get to the bottom of all of the strange bhaviour once and for all, especially as it seemed to involve him and Angel in some way, and whatever it was he was fianlly going to know for himself what it was, he had wanted to know for a while, it was his nosy vampire nature.

Well that's what he kept telling himself, there was no part of himself that felt concerned for the boy. Nope, no part of him at all.


	8. Chapter Eight

A/N: I'm seriously depressed as I have to go back to school tomorrow, so I decided to atempt to cheer myself up by writing another chapter, so here it is. Oh and I know I normally flick back between sunnydale and the Normal Again verse, every other chapter, but I decided to do another Sunnydale Chapter this time 'round, however I will be getting back to Will and Alex soon, promise :D

Oh and if anyone knows how to spell the name of the demon in the episode then you're a better person than me, but I gave it a go.

And regarding the next chapter, you've got a choice - Do you want to see Liam there with Will and Xander, or do you want the chapter set after Liam has gone home? Let me know while you're revioewing :D And on that note please review, it only takes a minute and it does make me want to write more chapters... so please?

Unbeta'ed sorry, still sorting my e-mail out, sometimes works, sometimes doens't

Normal Again - Chapter Eight

* * *

Spike arched an eyebrow at the youth sat in front of him, perched on the edge of a stone tomb looking more nervous than he had seen him in a while, if he hadn't been as confused about the situation as he was he would have been soaking in the fear that was rolling off the boy in waves, he however wanted to get to the bottom of this matter once and for all.

"So?"

Xander nervously looked up at the bleached blonde that was currently towering above him. He searched his mind for an answer to give but he couldn't find one that would make an acceptable lie. That left him only one choice, the truth.

"Well a while ago, you remember when I got attacked by that demon?"

"The Glarghkguhlkashma'nik?"

"Yeah the- that one."

"Well?"

"Huh? Oh right. Well yeah it injected me with some stuff, which at the time we thought just made me a bit sleepy and then wore off. However, it didn't exactly wear off." He glanced back at Spike to make sure he still had the attention of the vampire, "It gave me these visions or hallucinations or something"

"And? What does this have to do with anything?"

"Well if you would stop interupting me I'd get to that bit wouldn't I?" Xander snapped at Spike and for the first time he'd seen him since the demon it felt like normal between them. The only thing missing was the fact that Spike didn't retaliate, just stood there with an expectant look on his face. It looked like he wanted the whole story, "Well these hallucination things, they feel real. Like really real, it's more like I'm just in a different world or an alternate universe or something. Anyway is this other world I'm in a mental institution"

Spike raised an eyebrow at this but the rest of his body stayed as still as only a vampire could manage.

"Well then now that you know all this, I'll just be making my way out..." Xander trailed off as Spike caught his arm just as he was about to jump off the tomb, and he looked into the eyes of the blonde. How could someone shorter than him be so intimidating? It was unfair, all if this was unfair, infact life in general for him was unfair.

"I get all this, and it does explain some of your behaviour, but what does any of this have to do with me?" Spike reached into his duster pocket and pulled out a packet of cigarettes, grabbing one out he stuffed the rest back into hispocket and lit it, before inhaling deeply and trying to make sense of what he had heard so far.

He was hoping if he had babbled along enough Spike would have either got fed up of the site of him or forgotten why he was there in the first place, but looked like any form of luck he was hoping for wasn't going to turn up. Taking a deep breath Xander just decided to get it over and done with it. And then run like hell, depending on Spike's reaction.

"Well in this world you are my, we're kind of.... You're my boyfriend"

Spike almost choked on his cigarette when he heard that, he managed to stop the coughing fit just before it started and he began to look like an idiot in front of the whelp. He can't have heard the boy right, he had been mumbling, maybe there was something wrong with his hearing for now.

"Come again?"

"You're my boyfriend, in this other world." Xander repeated, clearer this time now that he knew Spike wasn't going to start shouting or egt really angry at whatever images his mind produced when mixed with the demon's poison. However that said Spike did look like he was turning red, though that was probably from almost swallowing the cigarette he had been holding. Well not really red, more of a pinkish colour, but it was a darker colour than the vampire's normal complexion. It had spread across his whole face and those sharp cheekbones were even more obvious and.... Whoops, he was staring again.

"So we're what, 'fuck buddies' in this perfect little world of yours?"

"What? No! We're not, I mean we don't, it's not like that... I think..."

"What you mean is you don't know, and seeing as this 'alternate me' is sticking around even though you've been stuck in a mental hospital for God knows how long"

"Six years." Xander interupted.

"Right, Six years. You've been stuck in this hospital for six years spouting off rubbish about a Slayer and demons and he's stayed around with you then you must have shagged, several times"

"You know I don't think you have a clue about what you're going on about here Fangless!"

"Oh come on mate, even you aren't that stupid. You think he's hanging around for the fun of it? So that means he loves you, and knowing what saps you humans are you'll have 'made love' to each other to express emotions or whatever."

Spike flicked the end of the cigarette onto the floor and gave Xander an evaluating look, trying to work something else.

"So, who else knows about this?" Xander gave him a startled look.

"What? No, no one, I haven't told Buffy or Willow or anyone. You aren't going to are you?" Suddenly Xander realised exactly what he had gotten himself into. Spike now had a hold over him and could easily blackmail him, because there was no way he was going to let the girls know exactly what kind of dreams he was having every night now.

A smirk appeared on Spike's perfect features for the first time that night, and he could tell by the worried look on the boy's face that he had came to the same conclusion as Spike had. Of course he had no intention of telling the Slayer and her groupies about it, but there was no reason for the idiot sat in front of him to know that was there?

"Maybe not, depends what mood I'm in. So you better hope I'm in a good mood when I'm around those precious little friends of yours," Seeing Xander about to say something he held up a hand and the boy shut his mouth instantly. "I'm not going to say anything tonight though, so you might as well go home, I'm sure we can find another oppurtunity to discuss this later on."

Xander slowly walked out of Spike's crypt wondering just exactly what he had gotten himself into, and he felt an enourmous relief when he slipped into his bed that night to see Will.


	9. Chapter Nine

A/N: Well once again, there's been a bit of a wait inbetween chapters, one day I'll actually get it sorted and start updating reguarly, but anyway this is my next chapter.

Just a word of warning I had a bit of trouble writing this chapter, not sure why, just didn't really have any ideas for it, hopefully the next chapter will be better!

As usual please review, I love it, makes me feel loved : D

* * *

"Alex." Came the replying voice. William had warned him that he may be called Angel, but it was still a shock to see Alex so confused with the two worlds, he had barley seen the younger man in the past 6 years, and never awake.

William glanced cautiously back and forth between the pair, they were the people that he was closest to in his life and at one point Liam and Alex had got on really well, but everything had changed since then and he didn't know how they were going to react to each other.

Liam stepped forward and sat down in the seat on the otherside of the bed, while Xander propped himself up on the recently plumped pillows, that seemed to be a thing of Will's when he was trying to play nursemaid, plumping pillows.

"It's been a while."

Xander couldn't actually think of a response to that, seeing as he couldn't remember ever seeing Liam before, only past images of Angel haunted his mind.

"I suppose it has." was the only reply he could think of to give, but he silently congratulated himself on not flinching when Liam moved closer, he did however cast a quick sideways glance to make sure Will was still close to him and he felt reassured when he saw those now familiar cool blue eyes looking back at him.

"So... What do you do?" It was a lame conversation topic and he knew it, but Xander couldn't just sit there in awkward silence, besides he was still kind of curious about everything, and he still hadn't gotten around to asking Will quite a lot of things.

"I work in a club, The Rose, well actually it's your old job."

"My job? Let me guess, I was sacked? Nice to know some things are the same as I left them in Sunnyhell."

"Not exactly, you quit. Moved on to bigger and better things."

"Oh right sorry, I'm still kind of lost when it comes to all that kind of stuff, I don't remember any of it."

"You don't need to apologise pet" William spoke up for the first time, things weren't going as bad as they had in some of the million different scenes he had played in his head as what could happen, but they weren't exactly in full flow conversation, not that he could really expect that from two people who both knew a different version of the person sat in front of them.

"I know it's just..." everyone expects me to in Sunnydale, I'm the zeppo, I make mistakes, I apologise for them and then I make them again "habbit"

William didn't look further for an explanation over that comment and didn't bring up the pause, but it was definitley something they were going to have to look into if he wanted his boy back, the bright-eyed bushy-tailed version.

"Will tells me you've been making good progress"

"Yeah, according to that doctor" Xander pulled a face when he mentioned dr. Roborts, he hated being reminded of that idiot.

Liam gave William a questioning look when he saw Alex's change in expression.

"He isn't too keen on our Dr. Roberts, something about him being a patronising git, if I remember correctly" Will gave Xander a cheeky grin, which appeared to be catching as it appeared on Xander's face and then a smaller version graced Liam's features at seeing some of the old Alex again.

"Anyway, I brought you a little something, I know I'm not exactly meant to, but I thought you'd prefer this more than grapes, and I don't know how much medication you're having and how this affects it so I better leave it with Will, and he can check. But still, betetr than grapes"

Liam pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniels and handed it over to William, Xander gave a small smile, definitley liking the idea of alcohol, but Liam was right they needed to check with the medication but he wasn't having it all the time now so fingers crossed.

"And on the plus side, even if I can't drink it, Will could always have it and I could use the empty bottle and put Dr. Roberts in his own hospital" Xander hesitated a bit after that, that was the kind of joke he'd sometimes come out with in Sunnydale, and then get looked on with a room full of glares after the 'inappropriate comment' but this time he got smiles, real smiles from two people who actually enjoyed spending time with him, and not just because it was compulsary to do so either and it felt good.

"I wouldn't say stuff like that too loud though pet, you know what he's like, bat ears, he'll probably hear you from the other side of the ward. And speaking of life outside of this little room, you aren't well enough to leave permantly yet, but you are well enough to go out for a day and nosy around a bit with me if you want"

Xander's face lit up at this suggestion, as much as he liked spending time with Will, he was getting a bit tired of seeing these same four white walls again and again.

"Really? And like go out and see other people and do things and actually be outside and see the weather and what nmonth is it and what's the weather going to be like because I don't really remember England and....." Xander cut himself off with an embarrased smile when he realised he was getting as bad as Willow when it came to babbling.

"January luv, so it'll be a bit chilly but I'm sure we can wrap you up nice and warm. So anyway by the response I got I'm thinking going out, is a yes?" Xander began to nod enthusiasticly "Well I'm not sure when exactly we can do it, but it'll be soon"

"Anyway I better be on my way" Xander jumped, he'd completely forgotten that Liam was sat there and he felt kind of bad for ignoring him a bit towards the end.

"Hey, um Liam?" Xander began nervously "Thanks for, you know, visiting and I would like it if you came again, if you wanted to and get to know you and.... stuff"

Liam gave Xander a warm smile before nodding and walking out the door, leaving Xander staring at nothing but his coat. The coat. Do some things never change? Both of them had to have The Coat, was it like necissary for hot guys to have a long, dark, mysterious coat?

There was no way he just thought of Angel/Liam as hot. No way at all.

"You want to try and get a bit of sleep now ducks? Been a long day" Will's voice broke him out of his thoughts and Xander suddenly realised just how tired he was. Sleepily he closed his eyes and snuggled down further into his bed and moved slightly towards the edge where William was sat.

Time to go back to Sunnydale he thought to himself. The only problem was, everytime he did this it became harder and harder to do.


	10. Chapter Ten

A/N: Ok it's been absolutley ages since I updated last and once again, sorry for the wait, but here's another chapter. Oh and yes, it's another in-betweeny bit that's kind of boring, but things will get slightly more itneresting later on, my next chapter will probably be one with either William and Xander, or another flashback to Will and Alex, please review and let me know which you'd prefer!

As, usual feedback would be great! And for the whole, me not updating for ages again, I've decided to write a minimum of one chapter a week, on the weekend, for any one of my stories, so naturally the story with the most reviews is the story I choose to update, so review people, please!

Oh and regards to Angel and the gang, this should be mid s3, but there isn't any Darla or Connor etc. but he is still working with Cordy, Wes and Gunn.

* * *

Xander sat down and played with his fingers for as long as possible, and when he knew just about every millemeter of his hands he took to studying the Summers' carpet, it really was very nice, it looked quite soft and... carpet-like.

"Xander"

Nope, sorry Xander isn't here at the moment but if you leave your name and number he will get back to you, or not as the case may be.

Knowing he couln't put it off any longer he looked up and his eyes met the brown ones looking back at him. They weren't angry, midly confused was probably the best term to use, but at the moment he was thinking that angry would probably be best, but then again if they were angry that would probably mean that they knew about... everything, and that most certainly would not be of the good.

"Xander" the voice repeated as if it had realised that Xander wasn't paying him any more attention than he had been when he had been staring at the floor moments before.

"Angel"

"Know why I'm here?"

"Got a fairly good guess"

"Giles phoned me and he explained that-"

"That Xander once again got the crap beaten out of him by some random demon that stabbed him and you wanted to come and see me to check I'm alright because we've always been such good friends, but no need to worry Angel, look you can see me, I'm standing up walking around fine that demon didn't leave any side affects so you needn't have wasted your time"

With that Xander got up and walked out the front door, or at least that was the plan until it was opened at the exact same time and he collided head first with Spike.

"Watch where you're going ok, mate?"

"Xander come back here" Angel was now on his feet, and he wasn't looking best pleased so Xander meekly went back into the living room and sat in the chair that Angel was indicating with his right arm, while the hand belonging to the other arm was running through his hair as he saw exactly who had entered the house.

Spike and Angel immediatley began glaring at each other and Xander felt helpless, trust Buffy and the gang to go off and patrol leaving him in the comapny of not one, but two vampires that both despised him with an equal passion.

"Well then, look who it isn't, Captain Forehead himself. How's life in L.A going? Good? Well that's just brilliant glad you stopped by and we had this little chat, bye now drive safely"

"Spike, this isn't about you. I came here to see Xander and-"

"You and Xander? Together, whatever will the slayer say? Her two favourite boys seeing each other behind her back"

"Stop being so immature Spike, it isn't like that and you know it, besides Buffy knows I'm here"

"Knows your here 'ey? S'pose she didn't want to miss out on all the action" Spike eyed the couch which Angel had just stood up from and jumped over the back and lay down on it, taking up all three sections to it.

"Don't mind me, you two carry on with whatever you need to be carrying on with, unless of course you want me to leave so you two can have a bit more... privacy?"

For once Xander was actually pleased to hear the barbs coming from Spike, he was just acting as annoying and Spikeish as he normally would be, it didn't seem like he was going to let any secrets out. Yet.

"Look Angel, I'm sorry I snapped at you before, but really there aren't any side effects, I was unconcious for a few hours but that was it. Really"

"Now I know you're saying that but according to Wesley-"

"I'm fine Angel! Why can't you just leave it at that?"

Xander decided that now would be a good time to try hi sdramatic exit once more and hope no one else ried to open the door at the same time. Grabbing his coat on the way out he pulled openthe door and slammed it shut behind him before heading out into the darkness of Sunnydale.

"What does he think he's doing? It's pitch black out there, and he knows he shouldn't be out wandering by himself at this time of night"

"Oh relax Peaches, Whelp knows what he's doing"

"Like he knew what he was doing when he got stabbed by that demon? He's lying, I could smell it a mile off, it's just what he's lying about I don't know. I'm going to call Wesley again and see if he has any more information, you go and find Xander and bring him back here, in one piece preferably"

Spike stood up and gave a mock salute Angel's way before stepping outside into the cool air and then slamming the door behind him. He wasn't in a mood, but slamming doors shut were so fun, he could practically hear Angel's cringe as the door banged shut.

So... it seemed he was getting yet another babysitting job, but hey at least he could have a bit more fun and blackmail the boy at the same time.


	11. Chapter Eleven

A/N: I haven't updated for ages and this chapter is so short it doesn't actually count as a chapter, but I'm posting it anyway. Next chapter will be a Will and Alex one and then the one after that will be affected by what you say in the reviews, you give, you tell me where you want this story to be taken, unless you want me to leave it alone, your choice :p

So here we go, the super-mini chapter.

* * *

"Oi, Whelp!" Spike yelled across the cemetary, which generally wasn't a good idea, especially not in Sunnydale, but if it got him a pissed off slayerette and extra violence, who was he to complain?

"Leave me alone Spike" Xander carried on storming off at the fast pace he had set himself, even if he knew it wouldn't make a shred of difference to the vampire that was currently yelling across the cemetary at him. Idiot.

"No, C'mere"

"What do you want? Angel order you to come here?"

"No, I don't take orders from that gelled nancy boy"

"Then why are you here?"

"Mostly? I was thinking it was about time to start blackmailing you" He never had seen the point in dancing around the point, straight and direct, that's what had always worked and if it didn't work first time? You killed the problem, until the chip that was.

Xander stopped walking and turned around slowly, he had known this was coming eventually, but trust Spike to be so direct.

"Coming back to my crypt?"

"I suppose" grudgingly Xander began to follow Spike towards his crypt, his mind should have been confused, looking for a way out, trying to escape but he had already expected this, it was obvious. He had a way out, he could tell the gang, they wouldn't think any less of him, but really, why the fuck should he? It was his life and he was gradually getting more and more pissed with them until his only escape would be at nights when he went to sleep.

He continued following Spike through the graveyard until they reached the crypt once more, he closed the door behind him but stood next to it incase he found the need to make a quick exit.

"So what do you want? Money, Blood?" he decided to get this over with as quickly as possible, being around Spike wasgetting harder and harder recently.

"Straight to the main event without any foreplay, eh luv?"

"What?" Xander was sure that he just said...

"Metaphor" Came the smirked reply

"Oh" of course, he knew that, he just kind of forgot, or got confused or whatever... Hang on, Metaphor for what? Maybe he didn't want to know.

"So..."

"So indeed. And to your question about blood and money, I don't want either"

"No?"

"No"

"What do you want then?" The reply that came left Xander speechless, and that really wasn't something that happened all that often.

* * *

Ok, I know that was most likley the shortest chapter in existance, but I'm really stuck on where to take this story so it's up to you. Review and tell me what Spike wanted, and I'll update if enough people give me ideas, I'm being lazy, I know. 


	12. Chapter Twelve

**A/N**: Ok, so I haven't updated this for ages so I decided that an update was due, this chapter is slightly different in that I decided to do it in Will's point of view. It has a bit from the mental hospital and then it switches back into the past that he remembers with Alex. Please review if you want me to continue this, I want at least 5 new ones before I update again, as I've been getting fewer and fewer reviews for this story...

**Normal Again - Chapter Twelve**

Will watched as Alex slept on. It hadn't been a good night, he had been holding Alex in his sleep all night and the nightmares seemed to go on and on. The only thing that was preventing him from waking up Alex to end the nightmares was the fact that he needed as much sleep as he could get if he was going to get better.

He watched as yet another frown appeared on Alex's face and he had to draw in a shaky breath to keep in his emotions, he'd only end up hurting Alex if he let his feelings get in the way and show Alex exactly how much it upset him to see him like that.

Gently he stroked his boyfriend's hair back away from his face and looked at his face. It might not look peaceful, but it looked as innocent as ever. Innocent? Anyone who knew him well enough would know that he was anything but.

As Alex began to calm down in his sleep he snuggled into Will who in turn pulled him slightly closer before resting his head back on the hospital headboard and he let his mind drift away to times before Alex's illness, the day they first met.

The more he thought about it the more it was like a cliched meeting, their eyes meeting across a crowded club and all that rubbish. Only it wasn't love at first sight, which made it so much more interesting.

/\/\/\

He walked into the club and was instantly hit with the sight of bodies gyrating against each other and people with their tongues down each other's throats. Perfect place for a guy who had just broken up with his boyfriend. Not. It didn't really matter though, all he wanted was a dark corner and a nice supply of alcohol, and lucky for him this place had both.

He walked up to the bar and waited a further 5 minutes before he was eventually served.

"Excellent service" The sarcastic remark came out of his mouth before he had even looked up, and when he did his eyes were instantly met with a pair of brown ones. Taking in the head the eyes belonged to he let out a small sigh, he was cute and a brunette. What was it about him and brunettes? Did he never learn? He suddenly realised that he was meant to be ordering a drink and his sarcastic remark had been ignored.

"Bottle of Jack Daniels"

"A bottle? Like an entire bottle? Don't you just want a shot?"

"I said a bottle didn't I?" He practically growled out, what was this, twenty questions?

"Ok, just checking" The bartender turned around and William took the chance to check out his ass, he wasn't interested in dating, not so soon after Liam, but he could look.

The bottle was dumped down in front of him and he grabbed it after handing over the money and headed over to a secluded corner, that just happened to have a decent view of the bar, but that was just coincidental. Yeah right.

He'd gone through most of the bottle in just under two hours and his eyes had never left the bartender. He shook his head quickly, it would do no good to stare at him, he would only seem like a stalker, and besides he hadn't even got over Liam yet, even if the split had been mutual.

He downed the rest of the bottle before slamming the empty bottle down on the table and walking out into the cool night air, unaware of the eyes that followed him from their position behind the bar.

/\/\/\

William allowed himself a small smile as he remembered that night and all of the evil looks he and Alex had shared before they had got together. And after. A love-hate relationship? They hat redefined the meaning, though there was never any actual hate, just a lot of fun arguments that led up to lots and lots of make up sex.

He glanced back to the sleeping figure on the bed, he seemd to have calmed down now and his sleep seemed to be fairly restful now.

He loved Alex, he was clear of that, he always had been and he always would be, no matter what happened. They had both changed since the times he could remember before and to a certain extent they were different people, but they would always have a connection, the only thing he didn't know was if Alex would be comfortable in a relationship with him any more, after the experiences he had had with his 'alter-ego' from Sunnydale.

Brown eyes flickered open and a sleepy grin appeared on Alex's face, and whatever troubled thoughts William had been having dissapeared when he saw the look on his face.

"Good morning to you to"

Will smiled down at the cheeky voice below him and pecked a small kiss on his forehead before bringing him closer still with his arm.

Everything would work out, he knew that now.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

A/N: I'm going on holiday tomorrow for a week and I've been really bad about updating my stories recently so I've decided to write you all an uber short chapter, enjoy . (And I know it is short, but some reviews would be nice)

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"Oy, Whelp!" Spike clicked his fingers in front of Xander's face. Nothing. What the fuck was going on?

They'd just been stood there having a nice conversation about blackmail and what not then the moron just stops, dead quiet, and while that in itself was cause for a national holiday, he hadn't just shut up, he'd... blanked out, or whatever the correct term for it was. His eyes were open but they weren't focussed on anything, they were just kind of glazed over.

He'd said that he usually went to this 'other world' when he was asleep, but what if it wasjust a coincidence that he was usually asleep, maybe he was sort of programemd to go there at a certain time every night. If that was true it looked like he was stuck with him for the night, great. He couldn't take him back to the Scoobies because they would wonder what was up with him, and not only would he get the blame but he'd also lose any blackmail material he had.

Just when unlife is on the ups for him, something like this happens, typical.

What the hell was he supposed to do with an unblinking statue? He couldn't just leave him stood there, you never knew when one of the bloody Scoobies would knock his door down looking for information, and they never knocked politly beforehand to give him some warning to stop his 'evil plotting' or whatever it was they thought he spent most of his spare time doing these days.

Spike sighed as he looked at the Xander Statue once more, there was no other choice, he was going to have to keep the whelp here for the night, or at least until he woke up. Actually he'd have to keep him in the crypt after he'd woken up, scooby gang'd kill him if they knew he'd let their precious boy wander the cemeterys alone after sundown. Great, looked like he had a roomie for the night.

But he was getting the bed, Xander could have the bloody couch.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

A/N: Hmm yeah, another short chapter but I felt like updating and for some reason I wrote this... I'm going back to Spike and Xander next chapter (whenever I get around to doing that) but for now a bit of... Well,almost happy stuff? Since when did I write happy? P

As always review and boost my ego a little.

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He felt good, no, maybe that wasn't the word he was looking for... Content, that was it, he was content. And happy. The weather was awful, then again that was no change, it had been raining practically everyday for months now, but the sun had been starting to break through the clouds over the last couple of weeks, so he remained hopeful for some decent weather before the end of the summer.

But the weather made no difference to his feelings, not today. He was stood out on the pavement with Will's duster wrapped around him and his wet hair dripping down his neck looking out across the road at his new house. Their new house. The neighbours probably thought he was mad, Will definitley did, he'd gone inside into the warm, but had came out a few minutes later to bring him a mug of hot chocolate, before dissapearing once more.

It had taken a while, and there was one point when he had thought it would never happen, but it had and here they were, living together. It was a nice feeling to have something more... Material. Which just made him sound like he was after Will's money, which would mean Will would actually have to have a job of some sort that provided him money, the idea of which was just hilarious. So not material like that, but material in the way they had something to show for themselves, they could hardly get married, so it was nice to having something that was theirs.

Plus it also meant they shared a bedroom, and that was definitley an improvement.


End file.
